I. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a trailer assembly for receiving, transporting and discharging flowable bulk material. More particularly, this invention pertains to such an assembly having a bin with a conveyor as the bin floor.
II. Description of the Prior Art
Trailer assemblies comprising bins with conveyors located at the floor of the bin are well known. Examples of these are U.S. Pat. No. 2,496,463 to Gaddis; U.S. Pat. No. 3,876,089 to Moser and U.S. Pat. No. 4,055,265 to Eisenman. The Eisenman patent teaches a bulk bed material carrier for receiving, transporting and discharging bulk quantities of material. Specifically, the Eisenman patent teaches a bulk bed material carrier for agricultural products.
While bulk bed material carriers with conveyor floors are well known, the use of such carriers in certain applications has resulted in certain difficulties. Specifically, it would be desirable to utilize such carriers in the construction industry to haul flowable bulk material such as aggregate. Also, it would be desirable to use such carriers to haul asphalt using the conveyor floor to discharge the asphalt at a metered rate during road paving operations. An example of such a trailer assembly for use in the construction trades is a trailer marketed under the trade name Flow Boy Model 24B by the J. H. Holland Company. The Flow Boy model has opposing chains connected by horizontal transverse rails which scrape across the top of a bin floor. Such an arrangement carries asphalt out of the bin. However, this arrangement can have disadvantages with aggregate which is abrasive and can damage the rails or the floor. Also, such an arrangement is not practical with wet concrete. Indeed, I am not aware of a bulk bed material carrier with a conveyor floor which may practically be used with concrete except for the present invention.
A problem which arises in the use of such conveyor floored trailer bins for hauling aggregate or asphalt is that the material may enter the conveyor mechanism and damage the mechanism or impede its performance. This problem is particularly highlighted when the transported material is aggregate or similar abrasive material. In addition to the problems associated with contamination, construction materials are of high density and conveyor floored bins are subject to extreme loads which can impair operation of a motor driven conveyor.